How Old Is My Motherboard?

Hi,

I've just bought an ASUS motherboard off eBay (boxed with all original components) which was stated to be 2 weeks old (he wanted to replace it with an ASUS Striker or something) ... it hasn't arrived yet but it doesn't look like he is going to he is going to provide any evidence that the board is, in fact, the age claimed. Although it is, in all likelihood, exactly what he says it is he said he threw the receipt away which seems unlikely to me at only 2 weeks so I can't help but wonder if it is either older or in some way dubiously sourced. My major concern in this is the warranty.

Does anyone know a way of establishing when a motherboard was made ... obviously that will be older than its sale date but I would expect a reasonable degree of correlation (say within 6 months). I'm after ASUS advice specifically but general advice is welcome too.

It occurs to me that I could simply ask for a receipt from him stating the age and source of the board ... perhaps I could even expect him to be responsible in the event of failure within the standard UK guarantee period of 1 year (approx. 11 months remaining).

Re: How Old Is My Motherboard?

The serial number may hold a clue, but I suspect you may need to contact the manufacturer for confirmation.
You may be able to determine its minimum age by looking at the date code on some of the IC's - e.g. '0748' would infer that the chip was manufactured in week 48 in 2007 - so you would know it is no older than xx weeks.
Of course, the board could have been manufactured 2 years before being sold to the person you are buying it from, so they may indeed have only bought it two weeks ago, but that wouldn't give a clue to its actual age.

I would be highly dubious of someone who cannot back up a claim or otherwise prove provenance. I do not think it unreasonable that you demand proof of age for such a 'new' item, and you should be able to reject it if this is unforthcoming on the basis that this was a major aspect of the contract to buy.

I am not sure how much The Sale of Goods Act applies in private sales, but the goods must match the description given. Presumably eBay will have guidance on this. As a private seller, I very much doubt if you could expect him to honour any warranty, which in any case would have originally been offered by the manufacturer.

I would suggest you wait until the motherboard arrives and see if you can determine the age and warranty status from the manufacturer. If it appears to be not what was stated in the sale description, you should reject it immediately.

Are you being overly paranoid? - not in my book! <img src=/S/smile.gif border=0 alt=smile width=15 height=15>